Strange Nights
by Egnoder
Summary: Strange things have been happening around the city, people getting attacked an unidentifiable creature, rumors of cannibalism, mammals suddenly disappearing, some think it's like last year's Night Howler Incident. This story follows the strange life of Crocotta and how he ends up becoming part of an unknown world, the world of monsters and mysteries. DISCONTINUED
1. 1 - Lost in the Cold

**While the first chapter is only a prologue and I don't expect to get many followers from it, I will have the second chapter out soon. I know that there are many people who tend to to avoid reading stories that focus on original characters, heck, even I am guilty of that. I just want it to be known that there will be plenty of instances where familiar characters are woven into the story, I just felt that the world of Zootopia was too great to only focus on a few of the main characters. I would love any and all reviews, everything from grammar corrections and typos to comments and questions to suggestions, it all will be appreciated, even if the review only reads "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?"**

Lost in the Cold

The small plane rocked awkwardly in the turbulent winds, making him nauseous, but before he could get up and make his way towards the bathroom, a hyena brushed past him holding his mouth. "Dammit," Peter mumbled under his breath, "there is always someone in front of me." The ram grumbled as he started digging around in the pocket of the seat in front of him, looking for the vomit bag. Not finding one, he reached over his drowsy wife's lap and started digging around in her pouch, rousing her from her half-asleep state. She looked at him and sighed when she saw his jaw clenched, "are you okay?"

"No, some damn bone eater got the bathroom and, AH, there we go!" Peter said, breaking the polite silence of the late-night flight. He pulled out the vomit bag he had been looking for and whipped it open with one hand and brought it to his mouth. He started puffing in and out, the crinkling of the waxed bag earned some irritated glances from nearby passengers, but he paid them no mind. Peter glanced at his wife and in between his deep breathes asked, "what? You know I can't stand these tiny planes and how shaky they are."

Hilde tittered softly and rubbed his back as soothingly as she could manage, "I know flying makes you stressed, but you don't need to rude." Peter looked at his wife's soft brown eyes and started to relax. He soon felt the nausea pass and he stuffed the bag into the pouch in front of him. "You know it's not just the plane. We had to end our trip early because the office needed you for some big merger, it's not even your job. I hate how you have to take your work home, and I really hate how you had to take it with you on vacation!" Peter puffed up in annoyance. They had planned this trip for six months. "Nari Co knew you were going to be gone, but NO… they couldn't plan for this two weeks ago…" he trailed off as Hilde started to scratch at the base of his horns just the way he liked.

"You know that isn't how things work. We only lost a few days off our trip. Plus, it's not like we didn't have fun," Hilde lowed her head to his shoulder and whispered the last part into his ear, "and we can always find a hotel away from the kids and spend a few days picking up where we left off." Peter glanced around the cabin with a nervous smile. Hilde knew he was starting to blush beneath his grey fleece, so she lifted her head and gently nibbled on his ear. He stiffened for a second and she smiled as she could barely make out the furious blush that covered his face. She nestled her head back down onto his shoulder and he jokingly grumbled, "Now I can't wait to get back."

Hilde started to say something but stopped when the speakers crackled to life, "This is Captain Leffus, we're are going to be passing over the Ridgeback Mountain range before we start our decent to Zootopia and with the currently weather conditions we expect a little turbulence, so please return turn your seats and keep your seatbelts fastened until the seatbelt light is out."

Peter groaned as he grabbed the vomit bag and clenched it in his hoof, waiting for a new wave of nausea to hit him. His wife giggled and blew on his neck, "Maybe it will help to think about something else." His blush deepened as she pulled his free hand into her lap and held it between her legs.

* * *

It had taken them forever to set up their tent with the wind picking up, constantly blasting them with frigid air and snow. Elisabeth let out a happy sigh now that she was snuggled up in the tent with her boyfriend. The alpaca had complained about going mountain climbing with her ever since they started making their way up Teiger, one of the tall but easier mountains to climb near Zootopia. After their first day, Lloyd had stopped complaining, Elisabeth thought it was cute how he started to get serious. After their second day, he happily stated he knew he could keep up with her the whole time, but she didn't have the heart to pop his adorable ego and tell him that she had slowed down quite a bit. She knew climbing the mountain with him was going to be slower than what she was used to but she just wanted to be with her boyfriend out in this icy world where it was just them.

Lloyd was grinning in his sleep, he had passed out the moment he pulled himself into the sleeping bag. Elisabeth scooted closer to him and cuddled up against him. It wasn't the same as lying in bed cuddling but having only the mountain storm around them and no other noise gave her a little thrill, like they were the last animals on the planet and they had everything to themselves. She blushed to herself about where that little fantasy of hers usually led. "Maybe if he doesn't pass out tomorrow," she whispered and then froze, realizing she said that out loud. Lloyd hadn't stirred at all.

Lloyd had been a little skittish about their intimacy with her being a pronghorn and him, an alpaca. Maybe she was a little overeager, they had only been dating for a few weeks despite knowing each other for almost a year, but he was so damn cute all the time. She loved it when he was focused on work, something about graphic design. His tongue would sometimes peak out of the corner of his mouth as he would sketch and redraw a logo, so focused that she could run her hooves through his wool coat without him noticing. It was so soft that she wanted to just bury her hooves in his chest fur and squeeze. The first time she saw him without a shirt on she nearly squealed, his chest had thickest fur she had ever seen, excluding the internet, but she didn't want to scare him off, after all, it took long enough for him to realize that she was interested in him.

Elisabeth tussled a little bit of the wool sticking out of the hood of his coat and sighed again. She knew she had to go to sleep soon if she wanted to have any kind of a decent day tomorrow. The wind picked up and shook the tent a little, causing Lloyd to stir. She quickly pulled her hoof back inside her sleeping bag and felt her face warm with blush. Maybe if the storm held up, they would have to delay their climb, she smiled and leaned into him. She certainly hoped so.

Morning came around and Lloyd was the first to wake up. Before he opened his eyes, there was a moment of panic as couldn't stretch himself out to yawn. His eyes snapped open and he glanced around quickly before he remembered that he was in a sleeping bag on the side of a mountain. He started to grumble to himself about how cold he was going to be when he noticed Elisabeth nestled up against him. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her sleeping, her brow was furrowed cutely. That was exactly how she managed to convince him to go climbing with her, that cute little furrowing brow. It had been all drawn together as she huffed about him not wanting to anything exciting together. He still didn't know how climbing a mountain was exciting but Elisabeth had managed to get him to start jogging with her in the morning because it was "great" and even got him to start bouldering at the gym because of how much "fun" it was going to be and both turned out to be true after a few weeks of him wheezing after her.

How in the world he, a graphic designer who worked part time for a small-time advertisement agency and freelance for some of the local small businesses managed to get such an outgoing girlfriend? His first encounter with her involved him almost dumping his coffee into her lap. His wool had puffed up in embarrassment and she just giggled at the sight. It wasn't until his first time jogging with Elisabeth that he realized that he liked her, he had tripped and ended up staring straight at her rump as he stumbled to keep his balance. Her well-toned rump with a little bit of white peaking out above her running shorts.

Lloyd's straying thoughts were interrupted when Elisabeth began to wake up. "Good morning," she mumbled as she nestled her head under his chin, burrowing her nose into the thick wool on his neck. He smiled and started to talk but was cut off as she suddenly jerked away. "Ah… no, sorry. I know you're not exactly comfortable…" she stammered, face starting to fill with blush.

"You know, it was kind of nice," he said, blushing at his honesty.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, as he unzipped his sleeping bag so he could move his arms a little more freely. Lloyd reached out and pulled her in closer. She wasn't able to do anything because she was completely wrapped up in her sleeping bag. "Especially, in this cold weather that someone dragged us out into," he continued, wrapping his arms around her.

"Do you really not like it?"

"No, it's fine, but I think I would rather on a couch snuggled up together instead of wrapped up in so much down that all I can feel is pressure on my coat," Lloyd spoke with a chiding tone, "maybe we can head back down now and be able to do that by the end of the day tomorrow."

"As much as I would like that, I want you stand on the peak with me and see that world spread out below us. It will take your breath away."

"Maybe I don't need a mountain view to take my breath away," Lloyd whispered as he looked into her black eyes, seeing the blush creep back into her face. He took a small breath, leaned in, and gently kissed her. The smallest bleat of surprise escaped her mouth before she kissed him back. They sunk into the kiss, tongues started to explore each other's mouths. Elisabeth had managed to wriggle her arms out of the sleeping bag and had pulled off a glove, slipping her hoof into his hood. She tussled his wool and pulled gently on his head, not letting him go. They inhaled each other's breath, their closeness not letting the mountain turn it cold yet. Half-lidded eyes gazed intently into his own, telling him that she had been craving this for a while.

When the two finally pulled part, their faces were flush and their ears were buzzing with the sound of their partners' heartbeat. "As much as I would like to continue this, we should probably get moving if we want to be on our way back down the mountain before nightfall," Elisabeth said as she cleared her throat in an attempt to regain control of herself. Lloyd knew she was right, but her hoof was still inside of his hood, playing with his wool. "If you insist, Elisabeth," he complained while he nuzzled against her arm. Her face bloomed red as she realized that she hadn't let go of him.

She quickly withdrew her arm and sputtered a bit before collecting herself enough to say, "If we hurry, we can get off the mountain before the end of tomorrow. Do you think you're up for that?"

"If you lead, I will do everything I can to keep up with that cute rear of yours," Lloyd stated nonchalantly before realizing what he said and stiffening in embarrassment. She could feel his wool puff up and it drove a tingle down her arm and deep into her body. "You better keep your word," she said with a giggle as she pulled her hoof from his hood and started to gather up their gear for the day. They ate quietly, leaning against each other. Before everything was packed up, Elisabeth turned to Lloyd and asked, "how long did it take you to think of that line?"

"What line? The one about you taking my breath away?"

"Yes, it was so romantic it was almost cheesy."

"Honestly? All day yesterday."

Elisabeth stared at him and then started to laugh, "is that why you were quiet? I thought you had gotten too tired to complain anymore!"

Lloyd grinned sheepishly and kissed her lightly on the side of her snout, "I was planning on saving that for when we were at the peak, but it worked out."

"Yeah it did."

They packed up the rest of their gear and head for the peak with a renewed vigor. The storm had died down and there were no clouds in the sky; it was almost warm for a snow-covered mountain. The two had almost doubled their pace from the previous days, both driven by the thought of curling up together without the cold weather gear. Every once and a while, Elisabeth would glance back over her shoulder to see Lloyd sticking close behind, huffing in concentration. She heard him stumble once and called back to him, "are you alright?" without turning around.

"With a view like this, I could keep going for a while."

"Yeah it is beautiful up here," she responded looking back off the mountain and out into the distance before seeing that Lloyd had been staring at her the entire time. She blushed and started climbing again, mumbling, "damn fuzzy flirt, when we got off this mountain…"

It was a little into the afternoon when the couple reached the peak. They both sat for a moment to the enjoy the view, but only after a few seconds Lloyd stood back up and said, "well, I'm done. Better things to do, need to get off this mountain." He jokingly started to leave, grabbing her hoof. She chuckled and pulled him back. "You are not going to walk away from this view without enjoying it," Elisabeth tried to say sternly, but her laugh betrayed her. Lloyd immediately turned around and kissed her. She gently pushed him away, "We don't want to get frozen together."

"I can think of worse ways to be stuck together," he quipped back, leaning in for another kiss.

"Quit it! I'm serious," she chirped back, pushing him away harder. He started to laugh and tug at her again, but this time Elisabeth wore a serious expression. Surprised, his laughter died quickly and Lloyd pointed his hands up in submission. Starting to back away a little, he said, "alright, you win, no making out until we are in temperatures above freezing." She laughed a bit as he took another step.

"You are such a goof…" she stopped short as her sentence was cut off by a quick yelp from Lloyd as he slipped.

"Lloyd!" She yelled as she started running after her boyfriend. He was yelling as he slid and tumbled through the snow. Elisabeth couldn't keep up with him. He came to a stop hundreds of feet below her, off the path they had taken up the mountain. She wanted to shout out to him, but knew better, so she carefully and quickly made her way down the to where he was. When she got close, she could hear him groaning in pain. His arm was tucked awkwardly underneath him with his feet pointing towards the peak, his head was resting on stone. Elisabeth moved quickly to his side, nervous but in control, her training as a paramedic took over. First checking his head, she discovered that the snow had cushioned the blow to the stone into nothing more than a bump but his arm was broken. It wasn't horrible, as best as she could tell through the jacket, the most she could do is brace it and hurry off the mountain. It was going to be painful for Lloyd, but he shouldn't be in any real danger.

Elisabeth gently maneuvered him into a more comfortable position and began finding a place to set up the tent. "Hang on, Lloyd, you're going to be fine," she assured him.

"This is your fault," he groaned. She flinched when he said that. Now getting scared that he might start to hate her for dragging him up this mountain. He continued, "You and those lips of yours." He chuckled and winced has his laughter shook his arm. A worried smile spread across Elizabeth's face and she chided him, "you really are an idiot."

"A cold idiot," he responded, "I think I have some snow down my jacket."

"I'll have the tent ready in a bit, then I will be able to take look at your arm."

"You just want to take my shirt off."

"Don't you know it," she said as she finished setting up the tent, "now be good and keep quiet" Lloyd smiled as she lead him into the tent and began to carefully take off his jacket to get a better look at the arm. "It looks like stable fracture, I am going to have to brace it the best I can. After that, we are going to take a rest and try to get off the mountain as quickly as possible," she told him. After a little under an hour, Lloyd felt like he would be up for continuing down the mountain, so they packed up. His arm was slung up and tucked inside of his jacket, with the sleeve tied into a knot. While she packed up the tent, Lloyd was looking at the rock he landed on.

"I know I might be a little out of it, but I swear this looks like some sort of control panel," he called over to Elisabeth before she could finish up with the tent. She walked over and saw him brushing snow off a rock. She looked at it for a moment before realizing it was part of a cockpit's control panel. They both looked at each other in confusion before looking down the mountain, seeing various mounds of snow with a sheen of white metal sticking up out of them. They gasped at each other and started towards the largest fragments of the plane.

As they got close to the mound, Elisabeth tripped over something buried in the snow. It was a pile of stones stacked into what the two could only guess was a grave. They continued towards what they thought was part of a plane's cabin. They dug a bit through the snow and found a grey curtain holding back the snow. They pulled at the frozen fabric and realized that something had been sewn onto the inside of it. The inside of the curtain was tan and brown, almost patterned like fur. Lloyd puzzled at it for a moment and looked inside the broken cabin, not noticing that Elisabeth had frozen where she stood with a shocked look on her face.

"It's someone's hide…" she whispered, eyes not budging from the curtain. Lloyd turned around looked at his girlfriend's shocked expression. He moved next to her and asked, "what did you say, I didn't catch that. You look like you have seen a… wait, what?"

"That is someone's hide," she repeated with a quiver. Lloyd stared at the curtain and his eyes bugged out. He spun around and looked back into the cabin. Now that his vision had adjusted to the darkness of the cabin, he saw that there was hide everywhere. He tried to hold his hoof to his mouth, forgetting about his broken arm. He winced in pain as he staggered from the cabin and started retching into the snow. "Ugh, wha… What the hell is this?" he yelled between coughs, spitting out the taste of bile. He couldn't turn around and look back at the cabin, he couldn't muster the courage.

He heard a shift of snow and a creak of the icy curtains, forcing himself to glance back at what he could only think of as a new layer of hell. Elisabeth was gone. He started to panic, had something taken her? Was it what did that to whoever they used to be? "Elisabeth?" he called out, but he didn't hear a response. His mind was in a panic. He staggered back towards the cabin, flinching as he reached to push the curtains aside. Inside, he saw her standing over a shadowy mound, still with shock.

She slowly turned towards him, eyes still wide with something other than shock, "it's alive, I don't know how, but it's alive."

"What is?" he asked as he moved towards her, hesitating as he felt something soft underneath his boot. Fleece. He was standing on someone. He shuddered and pushed himself to continue. Elisabeth had bent over the mound and was reaching towards it. "Elisabeth, don't…" Lloyd started, but stopped as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw what the mound was. It was a corpse. It was the corpse of lioness wrapped in makeshift clothing fashioned from fleece and hide curled up into the tightest ball her large size could manage. Elisabeth reached into the arms of the lioness and pulled out a bundle. She started to panic and move towards the curtains of the cabin. He heard her say something about freezing as she went past him.

Lloyd staggered for a moment and followed after her. As he exited the cabin, the world seemed to spin with nausea. He managed to gather enough bearings just in time to see Elisabeth duck into the tent. When he got to the tent he heard her murmuring, "shush, shush, it'll be alright, everything is alright." Inside, Elisabeth had unzipped her jacket and held the nearly frozen cub to her body to warm it. Despite the innocent scene before him, Lloyd couldn't shake a sense of disgust and horror for the infant. It had survived because of other's fur and flesh and that made it a twisted creature, no matter how pure its nearly white fur made it seem. He sealed the tent behind him but kept as far away from the creature as he could. It disturbed him that he couldn't think of it as mammal, even in the Elisabeth's caring arms.

The entire time Elisabeth warmed up the child, Lloyd sat at a distance with his expression set hard into a stern look. She never looked up, the only time she spoke was encouraging words for the cub to feel better. Lloyd looked at her expression, a loving one, and couldn't help but feel betrayed. How could someone care so much for something that lived because of so much death? How was she not repulsed by its survival? What in the world allowed for it to… Lloyd's spiralling thoughts were cut off by a soft squeal of glee from Elisabeth. The cub had started to grunt and stir from the cold induced stupor and she rushed to Lloyd to show him, almost thrusting the cub into his face. Her energy started to sweep him along with her, Lloyd reached out a finger to touch the cub and it turned its head at the contact. He started to smile, the thoughts of monsters drifted into the back of his mind.

He noticed a string around the cub's neck and started to pull it out of the infants swadling. "What is this?" Lloyd asked as the string snagged for a moment then slipped free of the blanket. He jumped back from the cub when the necklace was fully in view. "What's wrong?" Elisabeth gasped as Lloyd held his hoof clenched as far away from him as he could. His hoof was clenched into a fist, refusing to let go of the necklace no matter how much wished he could fling it away from him. "It-it's a bone," he said as he sucked in air, finally managing to breath. She cautiously pried the necklace from his hoof and looked at it, minding the cub as it started to settle down. It was a small bone, as best as she could tell it was the proximal or middle phalanx of a large mammal. A hole had been dug through the side of near the knuckle for the string and between the knuckles the words _For Famil_ y were carved on one size and _For Crocotta_ on the other.

"Is this your name?" Elisabeth asked as she placed the necklace around the cub's head and tucked the bone back into its swadling. "Well, Crocotta, let's get you off this mountain."


	2. 2 - Bump in the Night

**This is where we start meeting the characters of the story. I enjoy writing the little backstory/history sections that start the chapters. It let's me flesh out characters and the world without heavy handed narration and explanation that breaks up the flow of the story. I realize that I wrote in the summary that this story is about monsters and mysteries of the world of Zootoopia, so I am promising you that things will start to get weird next chapter. Again, I want to let everyone know that any type of review is appreciated. One last thing before your eyes glaze over and you decide to start skipping my Author's Notes, I had this chapter almost entirely written before I published the first one, so the third chapter may take a little while to come out. I am shooting for two weeks but things have been known to distract me.**

Bump in the Night

She had been in the hospital for almost three weeks after the plane crash. She could barely grasp what had happened to her. The doctors, her friends, even her coworkers, all told her how lucky she was to be alive, how lucky that anyone, let alone eleven mammals survived. She didn't feel lucky. She felt raw, bare, empty. She hadn't been to work for almost six months and she wasn't sure how it was going to be after was surprised that she still had her job. How could she come home from work and not have Peter there? She looked up at at the sound of hooves coming down the stairs. A small smile spread across her face at the sight of her two lambs all dressed and ready for school. "Exel, Kerry, do you have everything you need for today?"

"Yes, Mom," the twins groaned as they both tossed their backpacks at the front door. They sat down at the kitchen table and before they could put their napkins in their laps, Hilde had plopped two large pancakes in front of each of them. Exel grinned at the sight of the pancakes and started drowning his in maple syrup. "Hey! Leave some for me!" Kerry shrieked as she watched her brother almost empty the small pitcher onto his plate. "Exel, what have I told you about using too much syrup?"

"Not to use more than I need," he grumbled, sinking deeper into his chair. He huffed a bit and was about to take a bite out of his pancakes when Hilde was at his side stopping him. She picked up his plate and pressed her spatula into the pancakes to hold them in place. "Ah, no, come on Mom!" he complained as she poured his excess syrup onto his sisters plate. "Oh hush, the minute I turn my back you are likely to dump the whole pitcher onto your plate," Hilde said gently.

"Eww, I don't want his syrup," Kerry complained, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"Exel hasn't even touched it," Hilde said as she gave the plate back to her son and picked up a bowl full of berries, "who wants strawberries?"

"Me!" the twins called out. She grinned and chopped up a few of the strawberries and divided them between her lambs' pancakes. She returned to the kitchen to flip the pancakes on the griddle, humming softly at the sound of the twins digging into their breakfast. The radio was playing softly in the background, barely loud enough to be heard over the sizzle of a fresh pat of butter hitting the griddle. She liked to keep the radio on, the white noise of it reminded her of Peter and his constant muttering as his thoughts slipped out of his mouth. She always thought it was adorable that he had almost no idea he was doing that sometimes. Her mood was starting to turn melancholy, remembering her husband, but a shriek from the twins snapped her out of it. Hilde turned around to see Exel trying to rub his face on his sister, who kept yelling, "get away! Get away!"

"What is going on?" Hilde asked sterning, putting her hooves on her hips, still holding the stick of butter in one hoof and the spatula in the other. "She started it!" Exel shouted, pointing at his sister.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Nah-uh!"

Hilde sighed, her little lambs were too easily excited. "What happened, and don't you just start blaming each other?" Hilde questioned them with serious look. The two stopped their bickering and looked at their mother. Exel's face was covered in syrup. How on earth had he managed to do that? Kerry spoke first, "He was making a mess and I told him to stop."

"Why do you get to boss me around?" Exel complained.

"Because I'm older."

"Two minutes doesn't count!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Exel Ovis, don't you dare hit your sister!" Hilde growled as he raised a hoof above his head. Both the twins froze when they heard her tone of voice. "Now tell me why you were trying to get that syrup all over your sister."

"I-I didn't like her bossing me around, so I ate messier," he trailed off, wanting to stop talking but the looking in his mother's eyes made him continue, "then she said I was too dirty so I tried to make her dirty too."

"Alright, now say you're sorry to your sister."

"Sorry, I tried to get you dirty," he grumbled. Kerry gave a look of victory that didn't last long.

"Now, Kerry, tell Exel that you're sorry for bossing him around."

"But, mooom…"

"No buts! You don't just get to boss your brother around."

"Sorry, Exel."

"Sorry what?"

"Sorry, for bossing you around."

Satisfied, Hilde returned to the pancakes. Two of them had started to burn during their argument. She sighed and set them off to the side, she would eat them while her lambs were brushing their teeth. She brought the fresh pancakes to the table and patted Exel on the head. "After breakfast, you are going to have to wash up again," Hilde told her son. He groaned and rolled his eyes. She continued speaking, "and if you don't do it quickly, you'll both be late for school."

While her little lambs were upstairs, brushing and washing up, Hilde sat down and munched on the crispy pancake leftovers. She listened to the radio absentmindedly. The music had just stopped and the morning news came on. She didn't really pay attention until she heard the words plane crash. She turned the radio up and heard the DJ announce, "...that's right, the rest of the wreckage was found near the peak of Teiger mountain. It was found by two mountain climbers that had stumbled upon it. Reportedly, they discovered a survivor that had been living inside the wreckage for cover. The names of the mountain climbers or the survivor were not release." Her eyes widened at the new and she remained frozen over the radio with her hoof still on the volume. The DJ continued, "the survivor had been carried down the mountain by the two climbers and brought to the hospital where it was discovered that he or she was suffering from slight malnutrition and minor frostbite but will otherwise be fine. Can you imagine surviving in the mountains for that long, I mean, eating one inflight meals is bad enough, but having to live off of them? Sheesh, I don't know if I could do that."

* * *

It was one in the fucking morning when he finally unlocked his door and hit his hip off the knob as he walked into the unmoving door. He grumbled tiredly, it rained today, the door always stuck when it rained. He leaned his weight against the door and tried the knob again. The wood creaked slightly but refused to budge. He stared at his door and growled at the stubborn thing but being as tired as he was, it came out as more of a groan. He twisted the knob and slammed his shoulder against the piece of shit slab of wood. The door swung open with a loud shudder and he stumbled into his living room.

He stood up straight and reached for the light switch, normally he wouldn't bother but the still misting weather made it almost pitch black. The lights slowly flickered on and he glanced around his apartment. Dirty dishes from the night before sat in the sink and his mostly finished breakfast was abandoned on the counter when he got a call needing him to come to work early. A sigh escaped him and he drowsily made his way to the kitchen. He was going to finish the food and go to sleep and stay asleep, he didn't have to get up tomorrow. Before he could mentally correct himself, a sharp pain rang out on the side of his muzzle. He ducked his head and cursed as he clutched his nose, "Freakin' Fuck! Damn that hurts!" He reached behind him and flipped off the fan he had accidentally turned on again with the lights. He glanced at his paw and put back on his snout, no blood, that was good. "Damn. Can't get used to this tiny shithole," he complained to no one.

Two months ago he moved in this apartment. It was sized for a smaller animal, maybe a cougar or donkey, but it was cheap and the landlord didn't mind predators, probably because the neighborhood wasn't great. He sighed again and made his way towards the kitchen, this time ducking under the still spinning fan. He had forgotten some of the guys from worked needed him to stash some crates at his place because their warehouse was full, so when he rounded one side of the kitchen counter, he walked right into them, knocking one to the floor with a slam. "Damn it. Why did these things have to get stuck with me, this place barely has enough room for me as is!" As he bent over to pick the fallen crate up, there was a banging coming from the floor. Great, he woke up his neighbor, the grouchy boar had a problem with just about any mammal that she came across. "Sorry Mrs. Kenvinchi. Didn't mean to wake you," he called out as he stacked the crate.

He quietly made his way to his leftover breakfast and gratefully finished it off. The little bit of food only managed to remind him how hungry he really was. He tossed the plate into the sink and went to the fridge for something else. Fruit, vegetables, some poultry, eggs, none of it seemed worth the effort to eat. He was about to give up and go to bed when he remembered he had picked up a fresh fish yesterday. He pulled the fish out of the fridge and unwrapped the butcher paper and grinned, the cod was already gutted and scaled. Too tired to cook, he bit down on the fish's tail and started munching on it, letting it hang out of his mouth. He quickly washed and dried his paws and grabbed a kit from under the sink. He sat back down at the counter and emptied the contents of the gun cleaning kit in front of him. He took a moment to organize the swabs, solvent, and everything else before reaching under his jacket and pulling out two pistols. He set them down on an old towel and unloaded them. He took his time disassembling the first pistol and carefully cleaned it. No matter how tired he was, he always made sure to clean his firearms after use, especially after a day like today.

It was a quarter of two when he finished cleaning and put his pistols back together. He slipped them back into his shoulder holster. He would reload them in the morning. Right now he needed sleep. He started towards his bedroom when he heard a bang from an apartment above him. It was a gunshot, something small and muffled, maybe a .22. He rubbed his brow in annoyance and the boar below him started banging on her ceiling. "That wasn't me, Mrs. Kenvinchi," he grumbled as he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Deluto. _Do you have any guys doing something in Pangolin Heights Apartments?_

A few seconds went by before he got a response from him. _Nope, Sven doesn't even have anyone out near there tonight._ He groaned and went to the door instead of the bedroom. He quickly made his way up to the next floor, sending a text while in the stairwell. _Something came up. I'll let you know if I need anything._ He was making his way down the hall, ignoring the his cellphone's beep and instead concentrating on listening to the apartments around him. No shouting. No other loud noises. He could only pick out two apartments that seemed to have anyone going about them. He stopped at the door of one of them and stared at the brass numbers, 713, while listening. He could hear two mammals inside, no talking. He knocked on the door and heard mammals jump with surprise and the two moved, one towards the door and the other away. The door opened a few inches and was stopped the the security chain. A scrawny wolf, no that was a coyote, always was difficult for him to tell the difference.

"C-can I help you?" the coyote asked before dragging a paw down his face, "No, I mean, what do you want at two in the morning?" The coyote looked him over and stared at him confused. He started to speak before realizing he still had the head of the cod sticking out of his mouth. He grabbed the fish head with his right paw and wiped his mouth with the back of his paw before clearing his throat and speaking, "I just wanted to make sure everything is alright." The coyote glanced back into the apartment and then back to him, "I'm fine, why wouldn't it be alright?"

"Heard a noise, just wanted to check," he told the canine. He noticed the size difference of the door and the dog. The lucky bastard was in an apartment that would fit him, while he got stuck in one that would fit the coyote. "Nope, no noises here," the coyote said, almost stumbling over his words. He nodded his and spoke before popping the fish head back into his mouth, "Okay, sorry about bothering you." He walked away from the door and started towards the other apartment when he heard a grumble, a thud and a grunt, and the coyote hurrying to where he thought the other mammal went off too. "Damn it. Why couldn't it have been some jackass with an action movie," he groaned as he turned back towards the door and knocked again.

This time he heard both mammals come towards the door. The was a whisper between them before the door started to open. Before the coyote could even open it an inch, he reached under his jacket for a gun and slammed himself as hard as he could into the door. There was a yelp as the coyote was flung aside, hitting the wall and slumping down with his arms awkwardly underneath him. One down. He swiftly pointed his gun at the shocked mammal standing a short distance away from the door. He was a wolf, a proper wolf this time, wearing a knitted balaclava with a pom-pom on top. The ridiculous little punk not only couldn't find a decent mask to disguise himself with, he didn't even have the instincts to aim the gun in his paws. The shaken wolf flinched when he pointed his gun at his head dropped the small gun he had been carrying. The dumbass had tried to make his own silencer by taping a potato to the pistol.

"If you would be so kind to lead me to the mammal that it probably tied up in one of these rooms, I can get out of your fur," he casually told the wolf.

"He's back here," the wolf pointed before raising both paws above his, "why are you doing this?"

"Can't a mammal help a neighbor out without being questioned? No? Enough talking anyway. Hurry up." The wolf nodded and led him to the bedroom. Inside was a tiger in only his underwear tied up and unconscious. "Now, would you please untie him? I'd like to…" he was cut off by hot pain on the back of his head as he stumbled forward. The room started to spin a bit as he clutched the back of his head. So much for handling this professionally. He could feel the blood in his paw. The wolf had grabbed something from near the nightstand and swung it at him. Before he could do anything, pain jolted through his paw and he dropped his pistol. The coyote walked up behind the wolf and said something he couldn't hear, his ears were pulsing with ringing. The wolf pointed the bat at him and growled something at him. So that's what hit his hand. The coyote must have noticed that his attention wasn't on them and came forward and pointed the pistol at his face. The ringing subsided in time for him to hear the last of what the coyote said, "...ink I'm afraid to shoot a cop."

"I'm not a cop," he managed to say. His tongue felt thick and he felt like throwing up. It's probably a concussion. The wolf started swinging the bat at him shouting, "then why are you here?" He raised his already hurt arm up to block the strikes. He could barely keep it up after the metal hit his arm a fourth time. Metal bat. These guys really have no idea what they are doing. The coyote was distracted by the wolf and his outburst. He lunged and managed to grab onto the potato. He pinned the Coyote's arm and gun to his chest and landed on top of him. With his other hand he punched the mammal several times, grimacing as pain shot up his hurt paw. He might have punched the floor once or twice. The wolf hit him in the back. Once, twice, thrice. The third hit sent him stumbling again. He turned around and pulled out his second pistol. The wolf stiffened. He pulled the trigger, forgetting that they weren't loaded. Of all the times to be too tired. He was about to try to intimidate the wolf again when his paw slipped. The pain was a bit too much to hold on to the pistol and it fell to the floor.

The wolf dove on to the pistol he dropped earlier and pointed it him. The wolf's voice was shaking when he spoke, "look, guy, just stop right there." He painfully got to his feet and turned to face the now panting wolf. "Just stay where you are," the wolf ordered. The mammal glanced at the coyote and then back to him. "Back up. Away from Kyle, shit, I mean Steve." He would normally grin at the buffoon for being so out of his depth, but his head felt like there was a hole in it. Right, there is. The wolf cautiously made his way to the coyote as he backed away. The wolf nudged him. The coyote was unconscious, deeply so this time. The moment the wolf's focus wandered away from him, he charged. The wolf tried to shoot him, but the gun did nothing. He stared at the gun as he was tackled. The wolf was quickly beaten unconscious.

He stood up and sighed, so much for getting a good night's sleep. He touched the back of his head and winced. Good thing for thick skulls and small caliber pistols. He pulled out his phone as he went over to the trussed up tiger. He managed to work apart the knots with his claws and check the mammal over, and decided that he was going to wake up with a concussion but would be fine. His phone beeped and he checked it. Three new messages from Deluto. _What kind of something?_ The next message was a standard business question that was typical of Deluto. _The kind of something that needs some muscle?_ He chuckled at the fact Deluto was now in business-mode at two in the morning as he picked up and holstered his pistols. He was on his way to the kitchen while he read the last message. _Seriously, what is going on over there? I'm sending some guys over._ He quickly sent Deluto a response. _It's all taken care of. Might want to keep them away. Police might show up._ He was pulling open drawers, looking for the junk drawer that every mammal had, hoping it had some duct tape in it. His phone beeped again. _Shit. Cops? How serious?_ Before he could respond heard something behind him and spun around, dropping his phone, and pulling how a pistol with his good paw.

Before he could register exactly who was there, a bang and a bolt of hot pain hit him, this time in his shoulder. He dropped his gun and staggered as the pain started to fill him up. His head was throbbing from the gunshot. He clutched his shoulder. Probably a 9 or 10mm. He managed to focus on his shooter in time to hear, "ZPD, do not move!" Fucking great. This whole day has been nothing but bad timing and poor choices. The officer was a tiger, she looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. "Is there anyone else here?" she asked. He nodded, head felt like there were rocks rolling around in it, "Tiger, wolf, and coyote in the bedroom, unconscious."

"Turn around," she ordered. He begrudgingly obeyed and heard her pull out a pair of pawcuffs. As she placed them on him she radioed the station, "This is Officer Fangmeyer, reporting an armed B and E at Pangolin Heights, apartment 713. Three suspects, a lion detained with a gunshot wound and bleeding head, dispatch an ambulance. Assistance requested." She forced him to his knees and pulled out a second set of pawcuffs, cuffing him to the oven handle. She proceeded towards the bedroom and he heard her radio in, "Two unconscious suspects, medium canines, and an unconscious civilian, tiger."

She doesn't leave the bedroom so he calls out to her, "just letting you know that I probably have a concussion."

He hears some mumbling and the officer ask, "are you alright? Do you know what happened?" More mumbling.

"If that's the tiger, he probably has a concussion too," he called out to her, "I also could use some medical attention."

"Just be quiet!" The officer shouted. She must be as tired as he was. He wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while, no matter how much he wanted to. He looked at his shoulder. It was a clean shot, no tearing, nothing too important was hit. He tried to roll it to see how bad it was. He could barely move it without a ball of pain sparking out from his back. The bullet was still in him, maybe lodged in his shoulder blade. He glanced at the last drawer he had opened before getting shot. It was the junk drawer. No duct tape, but there was electrical tape. That stuff works better anyway. "There's some electrical tape out here if you don't have enough cuffs," he offered, "and with those two tied up, you could see to my wound. I'd prefer to do it myself, but my hands are tied."

The officer grumbled and stomped out of the bedroom. "Right in this drawer," he pointed with his elbow. The officer stiffened and trained her gun on him again. "What? I am trying to be helpful! You're going to shoot me for that?" She approached him slowly and reached under his jacket, pulling out his other pistol. "Do you have any more weapons on your person?"

"Ha. Kind of forgot about that. You know, having a concussion and all," he responded with a grin, "they aren't even loaded."

She repeated herself sternly, "do you have any more weapons on your person?"

"No, ma'am, but did you get the pistol with the potato in the bedroom?" She looked at him with confusion and asked, "are you trying to be funny?"

"No, ma'am. It's a homemade silencer. Didn't work anyway."

The officer took the electrical tape and returned to the bedroom. Coming back out after a few minutes with the potato-silenced pistol in paw. She set it on the counter and started to look at his wound. She gingerly peeled his jacket away and he winced in pain when she made him move his shoulder. "You can just keep pressure on it, the bullet is probably lodged in my shoulder blade," he told her. While she grabbed a towel off the counter he continued talking, "don't police have to announce themselves when entering a building armed?"

"Not when they live there," she said curtly as she pressed the towel into his shoulder.

"Huh, didn't know a police officer was my neighbor, I live below in 613. I'm surprised you live in a place like this."

"What? You decided to rob the same apartment complex you live in?"

"Whaaat? You think I was trying to rob this place?" He drawled with as much sarcasm as he could managed, "you wound me, ah no wait, you already did." He flashed a pained grin before continuing, "I just got home from work and I heard a gunshot, so I came up here to see what was going on."

"How did you know it was a gunshot and why didn't you call the police?"

"I know guns well enough. I figured it was probably something stupid like a kid messing around. So I stopped by and knocked on the door and a suspicious coyote answered."

"How did you know which apartment to go to?"

"I have pretty good hearing. I could tell there were mammals moving around in this one. Anyway, I was going to leave him alone until I heard someone get hit by something so I knocked again. This time both animals came to the door and I knocked it open and saw the wolf with the balaclava and gun."

"Seriously? You decided to play hero?"

"Eh, more like concerned neighbor who didn't want his sleep to be disrupted by a murder. And sorry about the door, I guess I'll have to pay for that."

She shook her head and pulled the towel away for a moment to see how the wound was doing. It wasn't doing any better, not that he was expecting it to be magically healing already. She almost smiled at his joke, "I don't know how anyone can be this glib with a gunshot wound."

"Two actually."

"What?"

"Took a shot from that potato pistol to the back of the head." She scrambled a bit to grab another towel and pulled his head forward to look at the wound. "Ow, not so rough. Concussion, remember?"

"Sorry," was all she said as she pressed the towel to the wound and gently guided his head back against the cabinet to keep pressure on it. "What is your name?"

"Otto. Otto Wilktlblin, at your service, well, more like at your mercy." She started to ask him another question but was distracted by the male tiger staggering out of the bedroom holding his head. "He probably shouldn't be…"

He was cut off by officer Fangmeyer almost ran to his side, "what are you doing? You have a concussion! Sit down and wait the for the ambulance." The tiger tried to nod and winced. He was all but carried to a sofa chair where he sat down on the armrest and vomited. "Shit. He needs to stay awake. That's a bad concussion, could be something worse," he told the officer.

She nodded and radioed the station again, "what is the ambulances' ETA?"

After a moment he asked, "So?"

"The ambulance for Bodhi is just arriving, the police and the ambulances for you three are closer to five minutes away."

"I guess that means I am still under arrest."

"Until something can back up your story, you are under arrest for breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and battery."

"Bummer, but I'm pretty sure those two idiots will get me off the hook."

"Why are you so sure they won't try to bring you down with them?"

"Because the wolf called out the coyote's name, Kyle, and tried to cover it up by calling him Steve." Officer Fangmeyer face cracked into a small smile. The smile disappeared when a noise came from the bedroom. She went to check it out. While she was gone, Otto glanced over at the concussed tiger, "hey, buddy. You need to stay awake." The tiger grumbled and lifted his head to look at who was talking to him.

"Who are you? Why are you...you know… here?" He asked a little slower than a fully cogent mammal would. Otto smiled the best could manage and replied, "Just happened to be in the area. You had a pretty bad blow to the head. You need to keep relaxed." The tiger started to nod and winced, jerking head, causing him to wince again. "Don't move around too much, just grunt or something for affirmatives," Otto told Bodhi as Officer Fangmeyer came back into the room.

"The Coyote woke up and started freaking out. Ended waking up the wolf too. I had to muzzle them both," she told him.

"That's, um, nice," he responded trying not to sound sarcastic, "Oh, and Officer, if you move the cuffs in front of me, I can keep pressure on my shoulder while you look after Bodhi." She thought for a moment and nodded. A minute after she shifted the pawcuffs, two EMTs arrived for Bodhi. She addressed them and informed them of the situation. One did a brief examination of the tiger while the other looked at his shoulder. All the EMT was able to do was put some bandages over it. Officer Fangmeyer then escorted them while they checked on the two idiots. Coming out a moment later, one of the EMTs told the officer, "those two will be fine, no concussion, and they will have some nasty bruises at the worst."

She thanked them as the two strapped Bodhi to a stretcher and carried him out. She took a deep breath and sighed when she could no longer see the tiger. "He's going to be fine," she looked over at him and he continued, "unless they drop him at some point going down seven floors." She flinched at the thought and he quickly followed up with, "that was funnier and significantly less dark in my head."

"Maybe the head wound and blood loss is starting to get to you."

"Maybe, or it's the lack of sleep," he paused for a moment and looked at his watch, "I have been up for twenty-one hours."

"Seriously? And I thought I had it rough with second shift." He nodded with a small grimace, both acknowledging the loss of sleep that both wanted at the moment.

The two sat in silence while waiting for the second ambulance and the police cruisers to arrive. When they did, Otto begrudgingly let himself be carried away, pawcuffed to a stretcher. The ride to the hospital was a blur to him, he only really noticed that the tiger police officer was there. He tried to think of the last time he bantered with anyone. When he realized it was Deluto a few weeks ago about Mr. Big and what he would do with any mammal that managed to piss him off, he was already being wheeled into the hospital. Why was he feeling so contemplative? It was probably because this is the closest to death he has ever been. Shit, he was probably going to miss work with his injuries. Then everything drifted away as the sedation he didn't notice being hooked up kicked in.


End file.
